Training Wheel Love
by Verboten Byacolate
Summary: Hanabi doesn't understand the concept of love. Hinata is there to give her a push in the right direction. What are big sisters for, after all? HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY, ZHOU.


A/N; I hope you will not mind the blink-worthy NejiTen, KibaHina, and ShinoHina. Nor cousinly affection. It's not _Hyuugacest_ (which I detest).  
Disclaimer; I wish I owned Hanabi, but alas... she belongs to Hiashi. Le sigh.

HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY, **_ZHOU MAK_**. I know I'm a horrible person for not getting this out on the day of, but you know me. (bet you didn't even expect to get anything, huh? XD)

**Training Wheel Love**

It was no secret that Hanabi was Hiashi's favorite. She was sweet and soft spoken when she wasn't perfecting her form in training, while her sister was merely the former. Hanabi had eyes only for her family, ears only for her father, mind only for the succession of the Hyuuga name for the entirey of her clan.

But even so--though she was her father's protégé, the apple of her clan's eye, the hand-me-down, most probable heiress-- she had no home to give her heart. The rest of her was devoted to becoming better than the other Hyuuga (Father's wishes, of course), but her heart remained uncertain. Even though she was the favorite, for this reason, Hanabi envied her sister with a passion.

Another obvious fact that remained was Hinata's affection. The Hyuuga in general knew this word by definition only. There was no affection outside of a dictionary. You courted by the elders' decision; you married (most often a cousin to keep the bloodline pure); you had few children, who grew up to follow the pattern-- who grew up to know 'love' as a fairy tale. This made Hinata stick out like a sore thumb. She had been the only one in history to allow any outsider into her room --through the window, no less!-- and it was extremely frowned upon, though the pesky dog-boy was her teammate. She was one of the rare, _rare_ few who had set foot into the kitchens to make a boring, disgustingly peasant-like sack lunch for another human being (it had made no difference that she'd defended the actions by claiming that her teammate, the one who _didn't_ resemble a mutt, wasn't likely to eat otherwise). She was one of the nearly-impossible-to-find that had ever fallen in love.

And Hanabi was jealous.

It seemed, too, that Neji was finding some great happiness from the outer world. That odd jumpsuit boy that invaded the compund with immesurable green, and their sensei with the same problem. And then there was the kunoichi that made the prodigy's eyes lose a bit of their stony countanence-- the one whose hair closely resembled the manju buns that Hanabi secretly enjoyed.

Hanabi was jealous of this softening, too. It seemed that most of her generation of Hyuuga were finding outside sources of happiness: everybody but her.

"Nii-san?"

Neji looked over his shoulder. He was nearing the gates of the compound in the direction of his teammates, who had coaxed him onward with promises of training and ice cream, until Hanabi had appeared. "Yes, Hanabi-sama?"

"Nii-san," she said seriously, watching his face intently to make sure his attention was on her and not his team, "do you find love after you become a Genin?"

Neji started, completely unarmed by such a question. He attempted to compose himself after he accutely picked up Lee's snickers at the gate and sent his male companion a cold glare. The prodigy turned back to his young cousin.

"Why would you ask such a question?" he asked, mimicking her serious expression. She stared back.

"I am curious."

"I see."

Neji held out his hand to her, and she examined it before taking it. The elder Hyuuga knelt down in front of the girl and met her face to face. "Hanabi-sama, I believe this is a question to ask Hinata-sama. She's female, so she may be able to better understand your intentions."

"You just want to shake me off so you can have ice cream with your girlfriend," she deadpanned, immitating her father. Neji's lips twitched and he leaned forward to press them against her forehead chastely.

"I don't know how to answer your question," he said, standing up, "but I believe that you can find love anywhere." Turning to give another look to his friends, he supplied her with a, "Hinata-sama is in her room. She won't be leaving for a mission until late tonight."

Hanabi watched him go, observing the light punch to the shoulder the bowl-cut boy gave her cousin, and the fist to the arm he gave back, accompanied by the laughter of the girl who placed herself in the middle. When they were out of sight, and their laughter could no longer be heard, Hanabi found herself feeling extremely... empty.

* * *

"Nee-chan."

Hinata looked up from her desk. She smiled that small, soft, unnoyingly un-Hyuukga-like smile of hers and inclined her head. "Please come in, Hanabi-chan."

Hanabi entered from the door, taking note of the numerous team pictures, letters with two familiar scrawls, and the occasional photograph of a grinning blond boy. Hinata set down the pen in her hand (it seemed to have been writing a letter to the bug boy, who wrote much more than he spoke) and faced her sister, who in turn approached.

"Nee-chan, when did you find love?"

This was obviously not what Hinata had been expecting (which was somewhere along the lines of orders indirectly from Father to stop writing letters to teammates she'd see in mere hours and _train more_, you worthless pile of flesh!) and shock filled her face before a cheery tomato red could follow. "E-eh??" she so wisely replied. "Me?" Hanabi's stare sent a bolt of realization through Hinata and soon, her blush faded, and she smiled again. "Hanabi-chan, will you come sit with me?" she asked, standing and gesturing toward her bed. Hanabi followed and sat where Hinata instructed. The older girl giggled. "Don't look so formal. You can be comfortable if you like." She herself folded her legs under her with her hands in her lap, which would be _very_ formal to most, but to a Hyuuga was almost too casual. Hanabi, however, complied, and sat against Hinata's pillows while the older sister seemed to collect her thoughts.

"I guess I should start by asking which kind of love you meant," she said quietly.

"It isn't all the same?"

Hinata was quiet, staring at her sister for a short time. "No... not at all. Well... sort of." Hinata's slim fingers pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and she tried again. "Love is usually the same... but not really." She drummed lightly on her knees. "Whenever you're with someone you love, or whenever you hear of them, you get the same kind of... niceness in your heart," she said. Hanabi nodded slightly, though she didn't completely understand. "You see... I love Kurenai-sensei like a mother. Whenever I'm around her, I feel a safe niceness inside." A closed fist tapped at a lavender-covered chest. "But it's not the same kind of niceness that I feel around..." She looked down now. "N-Naruto-kun."

Hanabi leaned forward-- this was what she wanted to know.

"When I'm with Naruto-kun," she said, even softer than before, "I feel safe, but the niceness is different." Hinata touched her red cheek. "It's hot and makes me dizzy, and whenever I'm near him, I feel kind of shaky and nervous."

It sounded more like an illness to Hanabi, but she remained silent.

"Even though I usually make a fool of myself around him... he is still kind and he smiles at me." Hinata's lips curved. "He has the most wonderful smile in the world. It makes the niceness inside very warm." After a mere second of silence afterword, Hinata's head snapped up. "But it's not the same as the warm niceness that I get from Kiba-kun and Shino-kun."

Uh-oh. More complications.

"When Kiba smiles, it's devilish and ornery, but it is very contaigous." The girl seemed to smile at the very thought. "Kiba-kun always knows how to make me smile. I love him. And Shino-kun doesn't smile very often, so I don't really get warm when he does, but he is always very gentle and understanding. Sometimes, I feel like he knows me more than I know myself. I love him as well. But not like I love Kurenai-sensei and... Naruto-kun."

Goodness. Love was so... _intricate_.

"When will I?"

The true heiress stopped and focused fully on the more probable one with a questioning look. "I asked when you found love. Now, when will I?"

"Hanabi chan... what is this about?"

She had nothing to fear. After all, this was _Hinata_. Certainly Hanabi could tell her why she was so jealous... The feeling, she was sure, Hinata did not know.

_And she is your sister._

"You and Neji-niisan found love a long time ago. I just want to know if... I'll know it as well..." She set the Hyuuga gaze on her face. "I envy you and Nii-san. But I don't expect you to understand when it feels like to have jealousy, so don't trouble yourself, Sister."

Hinata regarded her younder sibling quietly. "Why would you think that?"

"I would be the one you'd envy, because Father loves me best," she replied automatically. "Yet, you still talk to me so kindly."

Hyuuga Hinata's gaze softened. "I love you. I'm not jealous of you because you deserve to be Father's favorite. I cannot imagine how much is expected of you since you have surpassed the true heiress." Hinata seemed to hesitate before, pitching forward and crawling to her sister. Hanabi watched her carefully, and complied with suspicion as Hinata gestured for her to lean on her shoulder. The long fingers of the elder sister brushed through the brown hair of the younger. "You know... Naruto has a love?"

Her voice was a different kind of quiet. Hanabi had the sinking feeling that she disliked this one more than the other. "And his love is not the one returning mine."

"But you love your guy teammates _and_ that Naruto, so shouldn't he be able to love you back?"

"One would think so. But his love belongs entirely to Sakura-san."

"Does she know he has love for her?"

"Yes."

"Does she love him back?"

Hinata paused. "She loves him the way I love Neji-niisan, I think. Or maybe like I love Kiba-kun. I think that, to her, Naruto-kun is a brother... or a best friend. You see, Sakura-san has already pledged her love to another man. But I don't think that man wants any love..."

"Sister, does it ever end?

Hinata laughed, leaning against her sister.

"It doesn't. It's love, Hanabi-chan. It's forever."

"When does forever start?"

For the first time since she could remember, Hanabi felt like... a little girl. It wasn't as inferior as she'd thought it would be._ Big sisters aren't so bad_.

"Well..." Hinata thought for a moment. "Mine started with you. When you find that you love me, we'll work from there."

_- 0 -_

_Fin_

* * *

**I don't think I've ever expressed my absolute adoration for Hanabi before... but now I shall: Hanabi is my third favorite kunoichi, after Ino and Hinata. More publicity for the cutie please! And, for heaven's sake, could they have made her any more adorable in Ultimate Ninja 3?! Geez! I about had a heart attack from the cute!!  
Anywho, happy late birthday, Mak. Good luck with menopause and the heat flashes that come with, you geezer, you!  
-Bya**


End file.
